英語君導(dǎo)讀：

同時(shí)做多項(xiàng)任務(wù)聽起來很厲害的樣子，不過你可能還不知道，新的研究表明，這樣做其實(shí)比一次只做一件事的效率低，它不僅會影響你的表現(xiàn)，甚至還會對大腦造成損傷。

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You may have heard that multitasking is bad for you, but new studies show that it kills your performance and may even damage your brain.?
你或許聽說過同時(shí)做多項(xiàng)任務(wù)的害處，不過有新的研究表明，同時(shí)處理多項(xiàng)任務(wù)不僅會影響你的表現(xiàn)，甚至還會對大腦造成損傷。

Research conducted at Stanford University found that multitasking is less productive than doing a single thing at a time. The researchers found that people who are regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information cannot pay attention, recall information, or switch from one job to another as well as those who complete one task at a time.
斯坦福大學(xué)的一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，同時(shí)處理多項(xiàng)任務(wù)比一次只做一件事的效率低。 研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，經(jīng)常被多條電子信息轟炸的人無法像一次只處理一項(xiàng)任務(wù)的人一樣集中精力、從大腦中調(diào)取信息或者從一個(gè)任務(wù)轉(zhuǎn)換到另一個(gè)任務(wù)。

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1. A Special Skill?
這是一個(gè)特殊技能？

But what if some people have a special gift for multitasking? The Stanford researchers compared groups of people .They found that heavy multitaskers—those who multitask a lot and feel that it boosts their performance—were actually worse at multitasking than those who like to do a single thing at a time. The frequent multitaskers performed worse because they had more trouble organizing their thoughts and filtering out irrelevant information, and they were slower at switching from one task to another.
但是如果有人擁有能同時(shí)處理多項(xiàng)任務(wù)的天賦呢？ 斯坦福大學(xué)的研究人員做了一個(gè)對比研究。 他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，特別喜歡同時(shí)處理多項(xiàng)任務(wù)且感覺這樣做效果特別好的人實(shí)際上比一次專注于一項(xiàng)任務(wù)的人更不擅于多任務(wù)處理，因?yàn)樗麄兏y理清自己的思路、過濾掉不必要的信息，而且他們從一項(xiàng)任務(wù)轉(zhuǎn)換到另一項(xiàng)任務(wù)的速度也很慢。

Multitasking reduces your efficiency and performance because your brain can only focus on one thing at a time. When you try to do two things at once, your brain lacks the capacity to perform both tasks successfully.
多任務(wù)處理是效率和表現(xiàn)的殺手，因?yàn)榇竽X一次只能關(guān)注一件事。你想同時(shí)做兩件事，可是大腦又缺乏同時(shí)成功完成兩項(xiàng)任務(wù)的能力。

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2. Multitasking Lowers IQ
多任務(wù)處理降低智商

Research also shows that, in addition to slowing you down, multitasking lowers your IQ. A study at the University of London found that participants who multitasked during cognitive tasks experienced IQ score declines that were similar to what they’d expect if they had smoked marijuana or stayed up all night. IQ drops of 15 points for multitasking men lowered their scores to the average range of an 8-year-old child.
研究還表明，多任務(wù)處理不僅減緩你的速度，還會降低你的智商。 倫敦大學(xué)的一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在認(rèn)知任務(wù)中采用多任務(wù)處理方法的參與者智商有所下降，下降程度與吸食大麻或通宵未眠的情況相似。 多任務(wù)處理使這些人的智商下降15個(gè)點(diǎn)，與8歲小孩的智商平均值相似。

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3. Brain Damage From Multitasking?
多任務(wù)處理會損傷大腦？

It was long believed that cognitive impairment from multitasking was temporary, but new research suggests otherwise. Researchers at the University of Sussex in the UK compared the amount of time people spend on multiple devices (such as texting while watching TV) to MRI scans of their brains. They found that high multitaskers had less brain density in the anterior cingulate cortex, a region responsible for empathy as well as cognitive and emotional control.
一直以來，人們都認(rèn)為多任務(wù)處理導(dǎo)致的認(rèn)知障礙是暫時(shí)的，但一項(xiàng)新的研究卻給出了不同的答案。英國蘇塞克斯大學(xué)的研究員對比了人們在多個(gè)設(shè)備上花費(fèi)的時(shí)間（比如，在看電視的同時(shí)發(fā)短信）并對他們的大腦進(jìn)行核磁共振掃描。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，重讀多任務(wù)處理者前扣帶皮層的腦密度較小，前扣帶皮層是控制同情心、認(rèn)知和情緒的區(qū)域。

While more research is needed to determine if multitasking is physically damaging the brain , it’s clear that multitasking has negative effects.
雖然仍需更多的研究來確定多任務(wù)處理是否會對大腦造成生理損害，但它的負(fù)面影響已經(jīng)不言而喻。

Neuroscientist Kep Kee Loh, the study’s lead author, explained the implications:
這項(xiàng)研究的第一作者，神經(jīng)科學(xué)家Kep Kee Loh認(rèn)為：

“I feel that it is important to create an awareness that the way we are interacting with the devices might be changing the way we think and these changes might be occurring at the level of brain structure.”
“重要的是我們應(yīng)該建立一種意識，即我們與設(shè)備交互的方式可能會改變我們的思維方式，而這些變化很可能發(fā)生在大腦結(jié)構(gòu)層面?！?/div>

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4. The EQ Connection
與情商息息相關(guān)

Multitasking in meetings and other social settings indicates low Self- and Social Awareness, two emotional intelligence (EQ) skills that are critical to success at work. TalentSmart has tested more than a million people and found that 90% of top performers have high EQs. If multitasking does indeed damage the anterior cingulate cortex (a key brain region for EQ) as current research suggests, doing so will lower your EQ while it alienates your coworkers.
在會議和其他社交場合中進(jìn)行多任務(wù)處理是自我意識和社會意識低下的表現(xiàn)，這兩種情商技能都對工作能否成功至關(guān)重要。 TalentSmart已經(jīng)對超過一百萬人進(jìn)行了測試，發(fā)現(xiàn)90％的表現(xiàn)出色的人情商都很高。 就目前的研究來說，如果多任務(wù)處理確實(shí)會傷害前扣帶皮質(zhì)（對于情商非常重要的大腦區(qū)域），那么經(jīng)常這樣做就會降低你的情商，使你和同事們越走越遠(yuǎn)。

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英語君插話：

不過，對于學(xué)生黨和上班狗來講，不管我們多么想一心一意做一件事，總會有雜七雜八的新狀況像洪水一樣涌來。

這種時(shí)候，如果亂了陣腳就不用談什么效率了。

其實(shí)，對于這一類問題，是有不少技術(shù)可以應(yīng)對的，比如思維導(dǎo)圖、任務(wù)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化。滬江網(wǎng)校就有“自我管理”方面的課程哦，英語君給大家篩選了人氣最高的一門，有需要的同學(xué)不妨點(diǎn)進(jìn)去試聽一下吧。

（翻譯：君兒）

聲明：本雙語文章的中文翻譯系滬江英語原創(chuàng)內(nèi)容，轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處。中文翻譯僅代表譯者個(gè)人觀點(diǎn)，僅供參考。如有不妥之處，歡迎指正。